


Bestiary

by FrankenBean



Series: The Black Night Sky [3]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Wardstone Chronicles - Joseph Delaney
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23829757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankenBean/pseuds/FrankenBean
Summary: Olivia Louise Mistry, part-time single mum, part-time magizoologist, ex-double agent, and full-time person on the run from her past, is just doing her best.This work is going to be set out like the research notes of the mother of my character Jamie Schwarz from my story Canis Minor.It's my personal headcanon that a lot of the problems with the wizarding world stem from a bias and belief that wizardkind is the most important, most intelligent type of creature on the planet. Everything from the statue in the Ministry of magic itself to the general interactions we see in the books by adult wizards indicates this. So I am writing as though one researcher got thoroughly frustrated with all of this and spent her time on the run, collating an unfinished work to quash the bigotted notions of the wizarding elite with science and reason.This is going to be written like a bunch of facts and will mostly be useful for people wanting to do some worldbuilding for their own fics, but I might add a different section to this series for diary entries by Olivia Mistry for cute interactions with Jamie growing up. but for now that might spoiler Jamie's story.
Series: The Black Night Sky [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1457380
Kudos: 1





	1. Author's notes

#  **Bestiary**

For the collection of notes regarding Beasts, Beings & Spirits; examining Folklore and Mythology in comparison and analysis with the views held by the Ministry of Magic’s regulatory authorities, legislation and the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures policies and procedures

Olivia Louise Mistry, Magizoologist MSZ.

##  Terms and Author’s notes

The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures governs itself through three divisions: Beings, Beasts & Spirits. However, definitions for these definitions have varied over time and to this day meet with contention by the beings, beasts and spirits being categorised and legislated by this department.

For example, Ghosts have felt that they meet with the requirements of being classed as a “being” (that is to say that they are able to understand and be part of the wizarding community and act within its laws), however, in other regards, such as the needs, focuses and aims of the individual, they fall more comfortably into the “spirit” category. Similarly, werewolves are (for all but the night of a full moon) able to be fully classed as a “being”, however, have no control over themselves under their transformed state. Even after the very recent addition of the Wolfsbane potion, a transformed werewolf is unable to fully participate in wizarding society. 

These types of anomalous categoricals have lead to the tumultuous categorisation and re-categorisation of a vast number of legislations and policies, and in many circumstances, legislation and policy has been generated by wizarding policymakers, entirely independently of individuals within the communities these policies affect, nor even, in some cases, proper research.

It is, therefore, the aim of this Bestiary to educate, rather than make hard-line divisions. The categories used are to highlight whether or not an individual or population of individuals is generally able to communicate and interact with the wizarding population or that which we define as strictly human regardless of magical ability. It further takes into consideration the level of sapience and even hostility which may be shown towards wizarding or humankind.

Each main chapter will begin with a forward for clarification of research into layman’s terms.

This text will also make reference to the guidelines of a group of medieval magical individuals known as the Spooks, the effective forefathers of ministry action response teams responsible for dealing with malevolent and dangerous beings, creatures and spirits.


	2. Author's notes continued: Spooks and Classification systems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AO3 formatting ruined my example classification formatting but I will fix at some point.

##  Spooks and Hazard Classification Systems Past and Present

**What were the Spooks and why do they matter?**

Prior to the International Statute of Secrecy and even the founding of the British Ministry of Magic itself, governance of all magical things was left to individuals and guilds, as well as any witches and wizards who were a part of the nobility. One such guild which developed and gained noble patronage was the Spook’s guild, which operated in much the same way as Aurors and ministry task forces do today. One major primary difference being the much lower numbers of trained wizards and witches in comparison with the vast scope of terrain they needed to cover.

This was, of course, a time prior to the Floo system, where the fastest broomstick might only go about as fast as a horse, and naturally, Apparation, as we know, can only get a person somewhere they have already been before.

For this reason, cities might have a few Spooks in residence, but on the whole, Spooks worked alone or with an apprentice, only very rarely teaming up with other Spooks.

There was vast belief, that due to Arithmancy related reasons, the most ideal candidate for the role of a Spook, was someone who was a seventh son of a seventh son, however, given the severe rarity of such a birth, it would be impossible to truly study whether such a thing made any amount of difference. As it is, a Spook had to either be extremely well qualified in Defence Against the Dark Arts or be apprenticed, having shown a strong natural affinity for dark arts detection from a young age.

Some records suggest that a seventh son of a seventh son born without magic (either a muggle or a squib) would be what was known as a “blank”, someone who is immune to a vast number of magical effects but can still detect magic, even if they cannot wield it. However, once again, it is nigh on impossible to find verifiable records for such an occurrence.

As universal full-time magical education became more prevalent, more and more Spooks were drafted directly from Hogwarts rather than taken in for apprenticeships at the age of 11. This is, in part how the system began to develop from the guild system into something closer to the aurors and ministry department task forces we know today.

While much of Spook’s records have been lost, what has been recovered has proved valuable, as while in some cases, research has enhanced our understanding of subject matters, in some cases, propaganda and modern wizarding superiority biases have aimed to censor knowledge which was widely known by the Spooks.

**Spook constructions and Hazard rating systems**

While most constructions to capture, hold or prevent against dark and dangerous beings, beasts and spirits have been replaced with modern constructions or, more commonly, wardings; occasionally a person may stumble across an old construction, particularly in rural areas.

Before Azkaban and other wizarding prisons were set up Spooks often relied on more oubliette styles of magically protected holes in the ground or underground individual cells. These were marked by carved stones marking out the danger held within. All such constructions held the name of the Spook that performed the binding of the individual to that space, as well as a demarcation of the level of danger and the type of creature held.

On the most part, only beings that were malevolent and a vast danger to others were ever bound in such a manner. These would be marked with a large “O” followed by a small “M” for malevolence, or alternatively a danger rank marked with a number of “Xs” which is the same ranking system as the Ministry uses today.

E.g.

O M  /O xxxxx

Beasts are marked by a large “B” followed by the same ranking system, although beasts were often bound or killed if they were dangerous or malevolent (the top two highest rankings) while beings would only be bound if malevolent.

E.g.

B M /B D /B xxxxx /B xxxx

While most such beasts will be long-since dead, there are some who live for centuries, or even as long as they are able to get food, such as Basilisks or phoenixes or sphynxes. Therefore, DO NOT attempt to open such constructions without a team of specialists to assist.

Finally, a large “Y” was used to denote malevolent or dangerous Spirits, or residual strong dark or dangerous magic which could not be undone but had to be left to fade over time.

E.g.

Y M /Y XXXXX

It would be unwise to open or enter such a marked construction without a good team of curse breakers and experts.

**Modern Universal Magical Hazard Classification System**

The modern system is somewhat limited as it is often applied to an entire population of individuals regardless of individual sentience and sapience. Or, in simpler terms, it judges an entire species’ behaviour on the limited study of outlying individuals. However, it is still a useful guide for very basic understanding and for those who are unable to defend themselves or safely detect behavioural differences. It is, further, a system which focuses very specifically on the danger an individual poses to wizardkind, rather than humankind in general or relations between one species and another.

It is as follows:

**XXXXX** \- Known wizard killer, impossible to train or domesticate.

**XXXX -** Dangerous, requires specialist knowledge

**XXX -** Competent wizards should cope

**XX -** Fairly harmless, may be domesticated

**X -** Entirely harmless.

As you can tell, the classification system is very vague and rather subjective. A cow may be domesticated but cattle still cause far more deaths than sharks or wild African cats do to humans. There is further the issue of whether the classification denotes an individual or a population, which will vary greatly with level of sentience and sapience.


End file.
